Lagos APC meets over lingering issues and charts the way forward

Yesterday, leaders of the All Progressives Lagos State Congress (APC) charged members with openness, inclusiveness, discipline, conflict management and resolve to secure election victory General of 2023.

At a retreat held in Lagos, the party's former state chairman, Henry Ajomale, who spoke on the topic "Roles and Responsibilities of Party Leaders", said that synergy and efficiency, which lead to winning elections, come from the relationship shared from the national level up to the state.

Ajomale said dissemination of information on the deadline is a main factor in any successful election, adding that zone meetings with national representatives, local council meetings across states and the federation are essential to ensure a transparent work environment for any party. and its leaders.

He noted that given the goal of all political parties to win elections and form a sustainable government, party leaders must take their roles and responsibilities seriously and be determined to pursue it.

Ajomale noted that when he was party president, his team worked in an environment of mutual respect where everyone was equal and no one was disenfranchised and this helped ensure success from within before going to the polls.

He said, "My experience as President of State for 12 years was largely based on being open, where everyone could see me. Which I realized pretty early on as a politician , is to be open to everyone because it guarantees up-to-the-minute information.In politics, information is the key to your survival and success.

"You can't be a party executive and not leave your phones open or your doors unlocked as if it were a private organization. That's a guarantee of doom."< /p>

Speaking on “conflict, management and resolution”, former APC National Legal Adviser, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, lamented that Nigerian political parties, unlike what is happening in d other jurisdictions, have not institutionalized effective frameworks to manage conflict within their ranks and roster.

He said, as demonstrated by the APC, that intra-party conflict is not only a threat to democratic consolidation, but also to social harmony and party stability.

Ogala added that intra-party conflict is rooted in a kind of political practice, which makes entry into public office a guarantee for easy access to public resources and a path to private accumulation of wealth. .

He noted that conflicts between members often arise over issues of internal recruitment of leaders, selection of candidates for general elections, sharing of appointment positions as obtained in the ruling APC.

Ogala added that APC does not have a board/advisory council, which should be the conscience of the party six years after taking power, as a result, crises within the party are escalating.

"Due to failure to manage conflict appropriately, loss of life, hate speech, disruption of governance, uncertainty, displacement and destruction of property, unnecessary litigation and avoidable have been caused.

"Initially, the parties may resort to an internal dispute resolution mechanism, but when this method does not have the capacity to resolve the dispute, the parties may resort to the alternative method of dispute resolution."< /p>

He said the party leadership must be an active listener, aware of every verbal tone and also be a good reader of body language.

Ogala said that in order to get the parties in conflict to stop fighting and start cooperating, you need to steer the discussion away from accusations and towards ways to resolve the conflict.

An associate professor, Tunde Oseni, who spoke about the "mobilization of party members for elections", said that internal mobilization must precede external, saying that all are necessary, including citizens, voters, supporters and sympathizers of the party.

He urged party mobilizers, leaders and agents to broaden the mobilization network to include all these categories and start with internal mobilization of members and then expand to external mobilization of non-partisans, including including voters and party supporters.

“Party leaders, members and agents need to understand the dynamics of politics, policies and propaganda, all of which are essential to mobilization, both in the form of socialization and awareness.”< /p>

He identified Gladiators, Transistors and Spectators as the levels of political participation, adding that Spectators can evolve into Transistors and Transistors can become Gladiators, but not all Transistors will become Gladiators .

“It is the order of nature that some will lead and others will follow. Political scientist Robert Mitchel has called it the “iron law of the oligarchy”.

A party leader, Fouad Oki, who spoke on the subject of 'Discipline', said urgent and swift action must be taken by all stakeholders...